Love Burma, wish the very best for Burma, but, honestly, how do these “scholarships for young people struggling for freedom”, whatever that even means, achieve any useful goal whatsoever?
If the Burmese tend towards dictatorial regimes, that’s their business. Nobody ever thanked us for nudging, invading, manipulating, bribing, or bullying them into freedom and democracy. To the contrary, people deeply resent us for it. And guess what? Why shouldn’t they? We know best what’s great for us, and they know best what’s great for them. If the Burmese want freedom, they’ll fight for it. And if they don’t, that’s fine, too.
It’s the height of hubris and contempt towards others to think everybody should be exactly like us. These American scholarships are destroying genuine journalism and research in poorer countries. Instead of covering the events in their countries, journalists write endless pieces about how US Republicans are bad and Democrats are good. Because that’s what pays and nothing at home can compete with the amounts of generous American funding. I’m seeing this in Ukraine where these grants and handouts have caused enormous damage. Only today I heard two major publishers, one journalist, one college professor, and two members of Ukrainian parliament say that they are overjoyed USAID grants will be cancelled. I wouldn’t have been able to understand this even a year ago but having published a book in Ukraine and participated in the media space, I now know exactly what it means.
Clarissa's Blog 
But then what would Tom Malinowski know? Unless he’s a Burma specialist – which, while possible, I doubt – he incarnates that typically American idea, and ideal, of a world that is a replica of America. But America is America precisely because it is NOT like the rest of the world. Not everybody wants to be American, not everybody wants their country to resemble America or even turn it into a copy of America, including people who greatly admire and respect American culture.
If only Americans would understand that they are not some kind of model humanity, that it is not for want of trying that non-Americans are not like Americans, do not think like Americans and definitely do not want to be or think like Americans…
LikeLike
An interesting post (in Russian) re wokism and neoliberalism :
https://www.svoboda.org/a/vkus-buduschego-evgeniy-dobrenko-o-zavoevaniyah-neoliberalizma/32924716.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that’s exactly how it works. But I explained it first, so I got dibs. 😃
LikeLike
It’s amazing that america funds gender studies and feminism programs in Afghanistan at the same time american military officers are explicitly told to look away and NOT report the systematic raping of young boys (“Bacchabazi”) by Afghan warlords, our allies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also note that Taliban when they came to power instituted the death penalty for this behavior. Just for that alone they can rule Afghanistan until the end of time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Stringer Bell
Absolutely true, which is why many Afghans welcomed the return of the Taliban.
Apparently, to many leftists and other “well-meaning” (?) liberals, boys are expendable collateral damage in “the fight against cisheteropatriarchy”.
And no, I’m not being flippant. The things I have read on this topic are horrendous and do not bear reporting.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Many Africans learned during the Cold War that the thing is to claim to believe in democracy even if you don’t believe a word of it.
https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/angolas-murderous-legacy
LikeLike